


Stepping Out

by shockandlock



Series: From the Hopeless Romantics [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Social Media, fashion - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22140541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shockandlock/pseuds/shockandlock
Summary: Marco needs a plus one for the premiere of his movie: Wings: the Shadow Doves. But the only problem is, no one knows about his relationship with Ace yet, and are either of them ready for this anyways?
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Series: From the Hopeless Romantics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591624
Comments: 4
Kudos: 129





	Stepping Out

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write more stuff for this AU, so here's this drabble! Sorry that it's kinda short, but I kinda want to keep these small as opposed to writing a longer sequel. Maybe someday though...

“So is Ace going with you to the premiere?”

To be fair, Haruta had thought that it was merely an innocent question. He had no way of knowing that the question would make both Ace and Marco freeze.

“Um… well.” It was hard to make Marco speechless, yet here they were. Of course, he had been meaning to talk to Ace about the matters of publicity in their relationship, but they hadn’t really the time. Marco had been busy with filming and promotional events and Ace had been trying to settle in to his new role at the studio.

Between their first kiss and now, they had reached somewhat of a silent understanding. They had been caught once before when they were only friends and they didn’t want to drum up any dating gossip, especially now. They were extremely careful with how and where they went on dates, but both of them knew that the publicity issue caused some strain on them.

“If he would like,” Marco finished after a moment of thought. “I don’t want to force him if he doesn’t want to.”

Ace stared at him, confused. “But I thought you wanted to keep things on the down low,” he said.

He wasn’t expecting Marco to grab his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

“I’m not ashamed of being with you, Ace. I want everyone to know. I just don’t want you to feel pressured about suddenly becoming a public figure because of me.” He brought Ace’s hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles (a gesture that always made Ace’s heart beat ever faster). “I’m sorry that dating me is a burden.”

“No!” Ace denied, squeezing Marco’s hands back. “You would never be a burden to me. If anything I thought I was being a burden on you for this.”

“Never, my fire. Never.”

When Marco spoke to him like that and looked right into his eyes, he felt like they were the only people in the world– until Haruta interrupted them.

“Ew. You guys are gross.”

“You’re the one who asked!”

* * *

Izo was over the moon when Ace told him what had happened.

“Oh my goodness, Ace. Do you know what this means?”

“That you’re way more excited for this than I am?”

Izo ignored him, choosing to continue his ramblings. “You know very few people outside of this studio know about your relationship and now you’re revealing it at such a major event? I swear it’s like you two are trying to be as dramatic as possible.”

Ace shrugged. “Well, we’re not trying to.” 

“Are you kidding? With this news alone, you two will steal the whole show!”

“But I’m so plain. I’m just gonna embarrass Marco.”

While Marco’s words always comforted him, it was still hard not to have his doubts about this plan. Even though he was dating Marco, he wasn’t exactly well-versed in celebrity culture. Thinking about being around a bunch of big-name actors was absolutely intimidating.

He didn’t notice how deathly quiet Izo got. “Excuse me? Do you know who you’re talking to?”

Ace opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off when Izo stormed over to a rack of clothes in the corner of his personal workspace. Ace had never seen him go near it before, but Thatch told him it was for personal projects.

“Here.” Izo shoved a garment bag at Ace. “I designed this just for you.”

“Wh– for me?” Ace stared at the bag, still a bit too shocked to open it. “Why?”

“It never hurts to be prepared.”

“I thought you only did costumes,” Ace said, thinking back to Izo’s long rant on the difference between costume design and fashion design that he didn’t quite listen to.

“Multitalented, my dear brother-in-law.”

Izo called him that frequently and it never failed to make Ace’s cheeks Christmas-light red. Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by this revelation considering that many of the others had ventures outside the film industry: Marco had his photography, Thatch had his own restaurant, and Haruta was a frequent patron of one of those neat parkour gyms (which Ace was looking forward to visiting himself once he had a bit more free time). 

“Now go try it on!”

* * *

“Are you sure about this, Izo?”

“Well, I personally think you’d look better in warm colors, but Marco is obligated to wear red to the premiere to match the movie aesthetic.”

“And you thought this would work for me then?”

“Well, usually it’s a color I would have Marco wear. Think of this as… a mark then.”

“Mark of what?”

“Oh nothing. Anyways, just wait until the makeup team gets their hands on you. You’re going to blow everyone out of the water!”

“Makeup?”

“And don’t think I didn’t notice that you had piercings, mister!”

* * *

Makeup was definitely a great idea since Marco couldn’t stop staring at him during the limo ride over. Ace had a feeling that they would have some fun tonight after this event was over.

Ace smirked at him. “Cat got your tongue, my phoenix?”

“More like you do,” Marco replied, almost breathlessly.

In all fairness, Marco himself looked absolutely amazing. All the main cast members were wearing true-to-life replicas of formal wear that their characters wore. This meant that Ace had seen Marco in this outfit before: a wine-red (or burgundy, as Izo would insist) three-piece suit with a black dress shirt. Damn if Ace’s fantasies weren’t running rampant again.

Ace’s outfit was the complete opposite. He was decked in a vivid navy blue three-piece suit. The makeup (supplied by Vista) wasn’t too extraneous, but the electric blue eyeliner drew attention to Ace’s stormy, gray eyes. Finally, Izo forced him into wearing some simple earrings to tie the look together (he had gotten some lobe and helix piercing in college just for the hell of it). While Ace didn’t think he would do this every single day, it still felt good to dress up so fancy.

Ace leaned closer to Marco, almost climbing into his lap, and then gently pressed his lips together.

“I’m happy.”

“Why?”

“I’m with you.”

“You make me so happy too, my fire.”

They spent a few peaceful moments cuddled against each other before Marco checked the time on the fancy watch that was a part of his ensemble. “We should be there soon,” he commented.

Ace hummed and nodded in acknowledgement. “Do we need a plan of attack or something?”

He chuckled at Ace’s question. “So prepared, my fire.” His laugh along with the nickname made Ace feel so warm inside, even if he was teasing.

“I don’t want to mess this up.” Even if he had “the look”, it was only natural that he would have some jitters.

“You won’t. We have each other.”

Marco looked at Ace like he was his whole world and at least he had that going for him.

“Want to do something funny?” Marco asked suddenly. Ace stared at him in confusion. “I promise it will take your mind off of things.”

That night, mere moments before Ace and Marco stepped out onto the red carpet, Marco posted a tweet:

**Marco Newgate** @MarcoNewgate

_ We’re heading over to the  _ _ Wings: the Shadow Doves _ _ premiere right now. Can’t wait for you all to see the hard work everyone put into this movie. _

The picture below wasn’t Marco’s typical photography. Instead, it was a selfie of him and Ace: Marco smiled at the camera while Ace pressed a kiss against his cheek, holding up his own phone playfully to obscure his face.

Hiding didn’t matter too much anymore. They were about to step out into the world together.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more to this particular storyline! Idk if I should make it a completely different story or as another chapter here. Let me know what you think I should do!
> 
> Please leave a comment and kudos! The feedback really keeps me going.
> 
> Is there anything from this AU that you would like to see in particular? I'm open to ideas!


End file.
